Bam Adebayo receives NBA Cares Community Assist Award

Bam Adebayo’s basketball resume includes three NBA All-Star appearances, two Olympic gold medals, two NBA Finals appearances, an NBA All-Defensive first-team selection, three NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week awards and a North Carolina Mr. Basketball trophy.

The veteran Miami Heat center/forward is just as proud to add another accolade to his resume for his philanthropic contributions off the court.

Adebayo was awarded the NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist Award for December 2025 from the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association today. The nine-year NBA veteran was honored primarily for hosting his annual holiday toy drive and creating experiences for underserved youth through his foundation in December.

The NBA and the NBPA Foundation will donate $20,000 to the Edrice Adebayo Foundation in honor of his efforts. The award is named after late Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, a former NBA star who was an NBA league office executive and NBA Cares ambassador for more than 30 years.

“I don’t expect to get a community award because I do it out of love, passion and understanding of where I come from,” Adebayo, 28, told Andscape. “A lot of kids don’t have an opportunity to see somebody in the NBA playing at a high level, being successful and coming from their type of situation. Giving back has always been part of me.

“Obviously, it’s a good thing to get recognized. But I never did it for the attention. I did it for the love and the passion for the people.”

Adebayo hosted nearly 2,300 students from underserved communities at the Kaseya Center in Miami for his annual toy drive in December. After enjoying a holiday meal, the kids took part in a toy grab on the Heat’s home court to collect several toys to take home. More than 36,000 toys were distributed with remaining gifts donated to South Florida charitable organizations.

Adebayo says his Christmas charity event is “always special to me.”

“You give them the opportunity to get what they want,” Adebayo said. “And you see their mind racing. You see them get so excited. When I was younger I never had that type of excitement. It was always one or two things I got on a list of 15 things that I wanted. So, we’re able to give kids what they want. They might get a little extra.

“And also, you take the pressure off the parents. Some parents have to decide between paying a bill or getting a Christmas present. And that’s the type of situation where you want to take that type of pressure off of people. To have that opportunity, that is what it’s really all about.”

Adebayo was one of those underserved kids as a youth in North Carolina. He said his mother, Marilyn, “has been through so much” after facing financial hardship while raising her lone child. She didn’t have a car and she walked about a half mile to a grocery store to work as a cashier. They also lived modestly in a single-wide trailer home while struggling to pay bills.

Through it all, Marilyn Adebayo supported her son’s basketball dream and didn’t allow him to work in high school so he could focus on school and sports. The former University of Kentucky star retired his mother shortly after he was drafted with the 14th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft by the Heat. He also bought her a new home for her 56th birthday in 2020 in greater Miami.

“I understood that I couldn’t ask for too much,” Bam Adebayo said. “You understand the situation. My mom never talked to me like a kid. She talked to me like an adult and that helped me mature faster than most kids because I didn’t have a hissy fit off of what I didn’t get. I was always told, ‘Be grateful for what you have. There is probably somebody out there doing worse than you.’ From that standpoint, I would ask for a couple things and be grateful for that.

“I cherish those things and it has built me to this point. I’m grateful for the little things, the little opportunities and the little moments that I get in my life because someone else could be going through so much worse. You’re not so absorbed with yourself. From childhood, it was always about being grateful for the things that I got. And I appreciate my mom going through what she went through to get me those things.”

Bam Adebayo was also honored for rewarding eight student-athletes from his hometown of Pinetown, N.C., and their chaperones to a game day weekend as a reward for high academic achievement. Adebayo also flew in five student-athletes facing significant hardships to Miami for a Heat game. The students were recognized by Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and received a motivational speech from Heat president Pat Riley about what it takes to be successful.

The Edrice Adebayo Foundation has served underserved families, children and single mothers in Miami, South Florida and North Carolina. Adebayo credited the people behind the scenes in his organization for its charity success.

“It’s not only me. I have a [team] that works very hard,” Adebayo said. “They do a great job of sharing the love. They do a great job of getting people involved. They do a great job of helping me expand the love from Bam Adebayo to the community.”

Adebayo also earned another honor this week: being named the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday for Week 13 (Jan. 12-18). The 6-foot-9, 260-pounder averaged 27 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists to lead the Heat to a 2-1 record. Adebayo earned his first Player of the Week award since January 2024. He’s averaged 17.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in 36 games this season.

Adebayo primarily credited his WNBA superstar girlfriend A’ja Wilson for his recent stellar play. He also receives consultation and wisdom from Heat assistant coach Caron Butler and former Heat teammates Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem.

“I would say the key to my play has been clearing the clutter,” Adebayo said. “Just keeping my same mentality and just focusing on me. Everyone knows who my significant other is. When you go through a lot of things, it’s honestly one of the best things when you can relate to whatever she’s going through and also whatever you’re going through. …

“Most [significant others] that guys talk to either didn’t play, they’re just new to this and they don’t fully understand this. But to have someone that fully 100 percent understands what you’re going through is a blessing. Also, it helps having people around me that allow me to get things off my chest.”

As an African American with Nigerian roots, this time of the NBA season is quite important for Adebayo. He took pride in playing for the Heat against the Golden State Warriors on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday in San Francisco with Black History Month coming in February.

Adebayo is also well known for speaking out on issues of race and saying, “Black Lives Matter, people,” at the end of interviews after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer on May 25, 2020. Adebayo used “Black Lives Matter” as his social justice message on the back of his jersey during the NBA Bubble games played during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

“There is no hiding the history of what Black people have been through in this country,” Adebayo said. “There is no disguising it. You can open a book and read what all has happened. [Monday] we celebrated the great Martin Luther King, but that is just a small thing. It can be a long way because you don’t know who can inspire a little Black boy or little Black girl. A lot of times we have to work twice as hard, or three times as hard, to get what we want.”

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